The Preakness

Early in the week, Baltimore began to sweat and shake with its annual seven-day fever over a horse race. Despite a change in jockeys and a jinx, the horse causing the highest rise in temperatures was Hoop Jr., a satchel-headed bay that won an easy six-length triumph at Louisville. There was no standout challenger until midweek, when Pavot turned in a sensational 1:59 1/3workout (for a mile and three-sixteenths). By Saturday, 30,000 fans who shoved into Pimlico for the Preakness had just about forgotten that there were seven other entries.

Forgetting to quit, once he had been whipped to the front, was a lazy-looking 12-to-1 shot called Polynesian. He was even pulling away at the end of his upset $66,170 race. Hoop Jr., three times second in three previous races over the Baltimore track, finished second and lame-- 0 and 1 half lengths back. Far off last year's championship form (and his workout), Pavot ran an unexciting fifth, helped to make the feverish search for a three-year-old champion even harder.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.